Legal Aid

David Davis: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the departmental expenditure on legal aid in asylum and immigration cases was in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02, (c) 2002–03, (d) 2003–04 and (e) 2004–05; and what the budget allocation was for each year.

Bridget Prentice: The departmental expenditure 1 , in cash, on legal aid in immigration and asylum cases in England and Wales for each of the respective years was as follows:
	1 It is now practice to quote expenditure/budgets in resource terms. However, since the question covers years prior to the adoption of resource accounting the answer has been given in cash terms for the purpose of continuity.
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 2000–01 81.1 
			 2001–02 129.4 
			 2002–03 1,2176.2 
			 2003–04 1,3200.5 
			 2004–05 1,4177.2 
		
	
	(8) Administration expenditure covers all policy and operational resource costs attributed to immigration and asylum.
	(9) Including £3 million for administration.
	(10) Including £4.5 million for administration.
	(11) Including £5.9 million for administration.
	Before April 2003 there was no separate, specific budget set for expenditure on immigration and asylum matters. Basic advice and representation before the Immigration Appellate Authorities was included within the overall budget for controlled work and representation in the courts for judicial reviews and appeals was included within the budget for licensed work generally. From 1 April 2003, in cooperation with the Home Office, we set up a single asylum fund (SAF) to improve overall control of immigration spend. The Legal Services Commission's allocations from SAF budgets for 2003–04 and 2004–05 were £186 million and £143.2 million respectively. The figures given in the table for expenditure in these years form part of the SAP budget.